بعد شوي اجت زبونة جديدة وسألت اذا الطابور غالبا طويل بهالوقت.

بعد شوي literally means after a little bit. In Levantine, it can refer to a short amount of time either:

• in a little bit / soon if the sentence is about the future
• a little later / after a little while if the sentence is about the past

Because the next verb is اجت (came), this sentence is talking about a past event, so بعد شوي here means a little later.

Because the subject is زبونة جديدة — a new female customer.

In Levantine, the verb إجا means to come. Its past forms include:

• إجا = he came
• إجت / اجت = she came

So اجت زبونة جديدة means a new female customer came.

This is one of the places where Arabic shows gender very clearly in the verb.

زبونة means female customer.
زبون means male customer or sometimes just customer in a more general sense, depending on context.

The ending ـة marks the feminine form, so:

• زبون = male customer
• زبونة = female customer

Since the sentence is specifically about a woman, زبونة is used.

In Arabic, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• زبونة جديدة = a new customer
• literally: customer new

Also, the adjective has to agree with the noun in gender and definiteness:

• زبونة is feminine singular and indefinite
• جديدة is also feminine singular and indefinite

That is why جديدة appears in that form.

Because verb-first word order is very common in Arabic, especially in storytelling or narration.

So اجت زبونة جديدة sounds very natural for introducing a new event:

• then a new customer came

It is especially common when the subject is new information, like a new customer appearing in the story.

If you said زبونة جديدة اجت, it would sound more like you are emphasizing the new customer.

Arabic often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb and context already make the meaning clear. This is called pro-drop.

So instead of saying:

• هي سألت = she asked

Arabic often simply says:

• سألت = asked / she asked

In unvoweled writing, سألت can look ambiguous by itself, but here the context makes it clear that it means she asked, referring back to زبونة جديدة.

Here اذا means whether / if in an indirect question:

• سألت اذا الطابور... = she asked if / whether the line...

In Levantine, اذا is usually pronounced iza.

It is not really a conditional if here like if it rains, we’ll stay home. Instead, it introduces the thing she is asking about:

• whether the line is usually long at this time

Because in Arabic, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So Arabic says something like:

• the line usually long

but English needs:

• the line is usually long

This is completely normal in Arabic.

Compare:

• الطابور طويل = the line is long
• الطابور كان طويل = the line was long
• الطابور رح يكون طويل = the line will be long

So the missing is is not actually missing from an Arabic point of view.

غالبا means usually, generally, or most of the time.

Here it modifies the whole idea:

• الطابور غالبا طويل = the line is usually long

It tells you this is not always true, but it tends to be true.

In English, usually often goes before the verb is, but in Arabic the structure is different because there is no present-tense is written here.

الطابور means the line / the queue.

Arabic often uses the definite article when the thing is understood from the situation. In this sentence, the customer is asking about the line at that place, so it is treated as a specific, known line:

• الطابور = the line

If you said طابور without الـ, it would sound more like a line in a general or nonspecific sense.

بهالوقت is a colloquial combination:

• بـ = in / at
• هالـ = this
• وقت = time

So:

• بهالوقت = at this time / around this time

The part هالـ is very common in Levantine and means this before a noun:

• هالبيت = this house
• هالشغلة = this thing
• هالوقت = this time

So بهالوقت is a very natural Levantine way to say at this time.

No, هالـ is colloquial, not formal standard Arabic.

In Modern Standard Arabic, you would usually say something like:

• في هذا الوقت = at this time

In Levantine, هالـ is a very common spoken shortcut for this + noun.

So:

• هالوقت is colloquial Levantine
• هذا الوقت or في هذا الوقت is more standard

Several parts are clearly colloquial Levantine:

• اجت instead of MSA جاءت
• اذا pronounced as iza in speech
• بهالوقت instead of في هذا الوقت
• the overall flow and word choices sound spoken and natural rather than formal

A more formal MSA version might be something like:

• بعد قليل جاءت زبونة جديدة وسألت إن كان الطابور غالبًا طويلًا في هذا الوقت.

So the sentence you were given is natural spoken Levantine, not formal written Arabic.